DC fans asked the DC brass some tough questions at this year’s SDCC regarding their failure at diversity, and Dan Didio responded with his trademark belligerence, while certain panelists reacted with ignorance and appalling comments (like Matt Idelson, Superman editor, letting slip that he thinks Lois Lane is Superman’s “trophy wife”).
One woman in particular became famous for asking Dan Didio the questions we’ve been discussing for weeks now, questions the all-male panels and largely male audiences didn’t want her to ask – to the point of screaming at her to “sit down!” Read Sue of DCWKA’s Interview with the Batgirl of the SDCC “DC New 52″ panels. It’s marvelous.
Hi, thank you for sharing the link to interview with ‘Batgirl’ from the SDCC Panels. First, I’m glad to read to the positive aspects of the story like Gail Simone’s and Paul Cornell’s interactions with her. And how the fans are supporting Stephanie Brown. Her Stephanie Brown costume is very cool!
And now to the negative aspects of the story: the behavior from Dan DiDio and members of audiences to a valid line of questioning about women and diversity in comics is stunning.
The market is out there for diversity as the interview makes clear. I believe ultimately comics, the readership, diversity issues, and economics all together bring challenges and opportunities.
Speaking for myself, I primarily read superhero comics, but I’m researching online to branch out into different genres. At the end of the day I want excellent characters and stories by creators. In the future I hope (besides Gail Simone and Amy Reeder) to see and read work by Nicola Scott, Amanda Conner, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and more!
Same here. I hope there’s actually actions taking place after this statement. :)
I’ve read a lot of manga, and it can be a shock to come out of a long stretch of reading only superhero comics and pick up, say, Ooku or one of my favourite prose fiction writers and remember that the world is so much bigger than what’s seen between the pages of DC and Marvel and their bizarre one-sided creative pool. (It can be a bit depressing actually, to realize how many stories are just not being told in the superhero universe.)
DC is so far behind the curve on this that they haven’t yet acknowledged they have a problem. We should be much further along in these discussions than having to point out things like “12% to 1%” at a public convention and have Dan Didio throw that back in the customer’s face and ask why that matters.
The industry reactions at SDCC this year made me realize that they are completely unaware of the social justice discussions that are ongoing in large segments of their customer base. Evidently they dismiss all online fan criticisms as equally invalid, because it’s “just the internet” and “superhero fans are a bunch of complainers”.
Well. Look what just popped up yesterday: We Hear You.